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All Self-Hosting Tutorials & Guides

Every Serverküche self-hosting tutorial – by category and difficulty, step by step and tested on real netcup servers.

Here you’ll find every Serverküche recipe for self-hosting – from the first steps on a fresh server to fully served applications. Each guide is hands-on and tested on a real netcup VPS, but runs just as well on any comparable root or virtual server.

One thread runs through the whole catalogue: set up a server and harden it, put a reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS in front of it, arrange encrypted off-site backups – and build applications like Nextcloud, Vaultwarden and friends on top. Use the categories and tags below to jump straight to the recipe you need.

All tutorials

Stalwart or Mailcow? Two mail servers, both set up
netcup Intermediate

Stalwart or Mailcow?

One container or eighteen? Both mail servers really set up and compared: effort, RAM, attack surface – and what Mailcow …

· 16 min read
Authentik: Single Sign-On for All Your Services (Part 1)
Security Advanced

Authentik: Single Sign-On (Part 1)

Set up Authentik 2026.8 with Docker and Traefik: your own identity provider with Postgres instead of Redis – initial …

· 15 min read
Hardening Traefik: Security Headers, Rate Limit, BasicAuth & IP Allowlist
Containers Advanced

Hardening Traefik

Using Traefik v3 middlewares properly: set security headers, throttle requests, protect services with BasicAuth and an …

· 13 min read
linkding: Self-Host Your Bookmarks
Applications Intermediate

linkding: Self-Host Your Bookmarks

All your bookmarks in one place, across devices and without browser lock-in: linkding as a lean bookmark manager behind …

· 5 min read
Healthchecks: Monitor Cron Jobs & Backups (Dead Man's Switch)
Applications Intermediate

Healthchecks setup

Notices when a backup does NOT run: Healthchecks monitors cron jobs via a dead man's switch and alerts on failure – …

· 7 min read
Syncthing: Sync Files Between Devices – Without the Cloud
Applications Intermediate

Syncthing setup

Sync folders directly between your devices, encrypted and without a third-party cloud: Syncthing as peer-to-peer sync …

· 7 min read
FreshRSS: Your Own RSS Reader
Applications Intermediate

FreshRSS: Your Own RSS Reader

All your news sources in one place, no algorithm and no tracking: FreshRSS as a self-hosted RSS reader behind Traefik – …

· 5 min read
Understanding systemd: Units, Journal & Timers (instead of Cron)
Basics Beginner

Understanding systemd

Start services, read logs, schedule tasks: this foundational guide explains systemd with real commands – including your …

· 7 min read
Homepage: The Dashboard for All Your Self-Hosted Services
Applications Intermediate

Homepage dashboard setup

A tidy start dashboard for your server: Homepage links every service, shows system load and the live Docker container …

· 8 min read
Host Your Own Website with Hugo – Like Serverküche Itself
Applications Intermediate

Host your website with Hugo

Build a static website with Hugo and serve it from a Docker container behind Traefik – fast, secure, no database. …

· 8 min read
Understanding Docker Networks: bridge, internal DNS & the proxy network
Basics Intermediate

Understanding Docker networks

Why does every app recipe declare a proxy network? This guide explains Docker networks, internal DNS and container …

· 8 min read
Optimizing Immich: mobile backup, multilingual AI search & family setup (Part 2)
Applications Intermediate

Optimizing Immich (Part 2)

Immich part 2: make the mobile backup reliable, switch the AI search to your language, add existing photos as an …

· 12 min read
How HTTPS actually works (and what Traefik does for you)
Basics Beginner

How HTTPS works

Certificate, chain of trust, Let's Encrypt, handshake: this foundational guide explains HTTPS with real commands – and …

· 8 min read
Email deliverability: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and PTR done right
Applications Advanced

Email deliverability

So your self-hosted mails land in the inbox instead of spam: reverse DNS, SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained, set up and …

· 14 min read
Stalwart: the lightweight mail server in a single container
Applications Intermediate

Stalwart mail server

Set up Stalwart Mail Server with Docker: SMTP, IMAP, JMAP and spam filter in a single, lean container – the modern …

· 14 min read
ntfy: push notifications from your own server to your phone
Applications Intermediate

ntfy setup

Self-host ntfy with Docker & Traefik: push messages to your phone via a simple curl – ideal for backup reports, …

· 11 min read
Docker volumes vs. bind mounts: where your data really lives
Basics Beginner

Docker volumes vs. bind mounts

Named volume or bind mount? This foundational guide explains the difference, shows both with real examples, and when to …

· 7 min read
Self-hosting Matomo cookieless: analytics without a consent banner
Applications Intermediate

Self-hosting Matomo

Set up Matomo 5.13 with Docker & Traefik: privacy-friendly web analytics with IP anonymization, entirely without Google …

· 14 min read
Forgejo: your own Git server behind Traefik
Applications Intermediate

Forgejo: your own Git server behind Traefik

Set up Forgejo with Docker & Traefik: your own Git server with HTTPS, repos via web UI, cloning over HTTPS and SSH – the …

· 11 min read
Setting up a WireGuard VPN: secure access to your own server
Security Intermediate

Setting up a WireGuard VPN

A lean WireGuard VPN natively on the netcup server: keys, server and client config, firewall, phone QR – plus the Docker …

· 13 min read
Monitoring with Grafana & Prometheus: your server in live dashboards
Containers Advanced

Monitoring with Grafana & Prometheus

A complete monitoring stack of Prometheus, node-exporter, cAdvisor and Grafana behind Traefik – with live metrics for …

· 12 min read
Self-hosting Jellyfin: your own media server behind Traefik
Applications Intermediate

Self-hosting Jellyfin

Set up Jellyfin with Docker behind Traefik: stream your movies, series and music – with HTTPS and the library on …

· 13 min read
Self-hosting Immich: your private photo backup behind Traefik
Applications Intermediate

Self-hosting Immich

Set up Immich with Docker behind Traefik: the self-hosted alternative to Google Photos – with automatic phone backup, …

· 12 min read
Self-hosting Paperless-ngx: the paperless office with OCR
Applications Intermediate

Self-hosting Paperless-ngx

Set up Paperless-ngx with Docker behind Traefik: archive documents searchably via OCR – with full-text search, tags and …

· 11 min read
Hardening & optimizing Nextcloud: clear every warning (part 2)
Applications Intermediate

Hardening Nextcloud (Part 2)

Get your Nextcloud admin overview green: set up HSTS headers, email sending, enforced two-factor auth and brute-force …

· 13 min read
Installing Uptime Kuma: server monitoring behind Traefik
Applications Intermediate

Installing Uptime Kuma

Set up Uptime Kuma behind Traefik and monitor your services: monitors, notifications and a status page – the first real …

· 11 min read
Restic backups: encrypted and off-site
Security Intermediate

Restic backups: encrypted and off-site

Off-site backups with Restic: set up encrypted, restore snapshots, prune with retention and automate via a systemd …

· 12 min read
Setting up Fail2ban: block brute-force attacks automatically
Security Intermediate

Setting up Fail2ban

Fail2ban watches your logs and bans IPs after too many failed attempts – with a safe whitelist for your own address so …

· 9 min read
unattended-upgrades: automatic security updates for Debian
Security Beginner

unattended-upgrades setup

Debian installs security updates automatically: set up unattended-upgrades, control the reboot, and verify it really …

· 5 min read
Setting up the netcup firewall in the SCP (with the stateless-UDP trick)
netcup Intermediate

netcup firewall setup

Set up the netcup firewall as network protection in front of the server: composable policy templates in the SCP – with …

· 12 min read
Setting up a firewall with UFW
Security Beginner

Setting up a firewall with UFW

Set up a host firewall in minutes with UFW: block everything except SSH, HTTP and HTTPS on your server – without ever …

· 5 min read
Understanding Docker Compose: services, volumes, networks
Containers Intermediate

Understanding Docker Compose

compose.yaml explained: services, volumes, networks and variables – the Docker vocabulary every app recipe in the …

· 12 min read
Installing Docker on Debian
Containers Beginner

Installing Docker on Debian

Install Docker Engine and Docker Compose cleanly from the official repository – the foundation for most self-hosting …

· 4 min read
Hardening SSH access
Security Beginner

Hardening SSH access

Key-based login instead of passwords and no root login: the most important moves to harden the front door to your …

· 5 min read
First steps with a netcup VPS
Basics Beginner

First steps with a netcup VPS

From a freshly ordered netcup server to a working system in 30 minutes: SSH login, updates, a sudo user, hostname and …

· 5 min read